"Long-exposure photography" at the Prater Studios

To pay tribute to the multifaceted 'Prater Ateliers' ecosystem – comprising architecture, art, people and nature – on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. To create a record of time, history and everyday culture. To offer insights into the current state of the site and to document the changes over the next three years. To understand, observe and capture space as a sculpture. Engaging in dialogue with the artists and viewing their artworks with one's own eyes and from a personal perspective. Paying attention to the overlooked just as much as to the obvious. Following in the footsteps of predecessors Werner Würtinger and Magareta Spillutini, whilst finding one's own voice and, where necessary, taking detours.
"History is always a reflection of history," says Werner Würtinger in his book *Arcadia and Pleasant Enemies*, noting also that the works of those active there have always been in tune with the spirit of the times or in opposition to the prevailing society of the day. Whether this still holds true cannot yet be said with certainty, but it seems reasonable to assume that the spirit of resistance is still present in the works today. The intention to create more than mere (architectural) documentation – but rather to portray a place that, at least when viewed from the outside, often seems to lie outside the flow of time – allows for a broad perspective that requires engagement with the artists and their works, and can thus also answer questions such as those mentioned above.

'The wide-angle lens' (Ludwig Laher) not only provides an overview, but also contributes to a sense of density. Density – a term that describes not only many a work in the studios, but rather the entire site and the urban landscape around it that is in the process of change. The need for seclusion and isolation is under threat; the city is drawing nearer, new buildings are disrupting the familiar lighting conditions in the studios, and it is not just the construction noise that is increasing. These circumstances, too, will form part of the project and be the subject of photographic exploration.
The programmatic framework for the project is formed by a 'long exposure' consisting of snapshots: a concentrated photographic engagement with place, people, artworks and landscape, taking into account and acknowledging the present, future and historical contexts. The driving force behind the entire project is the set of parameters that remain central to photography – light, time, space, memory and representation – which imbue the architecture, the artists, the landscape and everything depicted with meaning. Consequently, the resulting images cannot, therefore, reproduce 'reality'.